


Amphibian

by rudbeckia



Series: Random Worlds [11]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Desert Island, Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Oral Sex, Phasma Ships It, Snoke Ships It, description of drowning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 14:32:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11785143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Crash landing on a desert island is bad enough for Hux, but his shuttle is tantalisingly visible under the clearest, water he has ever seen, he can't swim and he has Kylo Kriffing Ren for company.Good job he took survival classes at the Academy. Those lessons will be useful. Right?Kylo is not impressed.A fic in which Ren learns a little control and Hux learns to lose it.Fan art of Hux's daydream done by theearlgreyalpha.





	Amphibian

Hux regarded the dark shadow of the remains of his shuttlecraft and cursed aloud. He knew he was lucky, very _very_ lucky, to have survived the sudden loss of power, the insistent pull of gravity just a little higher than standard, and the splashdown into the lagoon. Funny thing not many people knew, he mused as his head cleared, landing hard on water was just like landing hard on duracrete. The molecules didn’t have time to get out of the way of the flat-bottomed craft and he’d smacked down violently enough to activate all the safety features that kept his bones from breaking and his internal organs from mushing due to the catastrophic loss of momentum. 

Shame the emergency systems hadn’t kept the shuttle afloat. Hux couldn’t remember getting out of his seat but he had come to his senses draped over a makeshift flotation device and kicked himself ashore with his legs, his arms clamped securely around one of the shuttle’s airbags. He cursed again. He could _see_ the outline of his fucking shuttle in the delightfully calm, warm, clear water. He just couldn’t fly it underwater, what with not having amphibian tendencies. 

Ren had, of course, laughed at him. Ren could swim. Of course he fucking could. Fucking marvellous. Who the _Sith_ needs to learn to swim _that well_ in _space?_

Hux had basically allowed himself to be washed ashore. In the time it took Hux to complete his gently-propelled float, haul himself onto his feet, fall over again because of the astonishing weight of water in his greatcoat, sit in the shallows removing as much clothing as he could then drag it, and himself, up the beach, Ren had swum ashore, stripped naked, arranged his clothing on a few low branches to drip in the warm breeze, swum back out to the sunken shuttle, retrieved a vacuum-sealed emergency pack and swum back.

“Help me,” demanded Hux, sitting on a fallen trunk that stretched out over the sand and dipped spindly upper branches in the shallows. He stuck his left leg in the air. “I need to get my boots off before the water makes them stiff.”  
“Tut tut, general,” Ren had the nerve to smirk. “Did your mother never teach you manners?”  
Hux had reached the end of his patience for the day. His face twisted into a snarl for just a second and Ren’s eyebrows shot up. “I was sent away to school when I was four. I learned appropriate manners from my superior officers. Are you going to help me or not?” 

Ren paused for a couple of seconds, frowning at Hux, then shook out his shoulders and grabbed the heel and toe of the proffered footwear, yanking it up and off, then repeated with the other. He dropped both onto the warm, dry sand and walked away. Hux huffed, picked up the boots, shook off as much sand and water as he could and set them in the shade of a prickle bush. After a few minutes of chafing, he peeled off the rest of his clothing and hung it beside Ren’s ridiculous robes. At least, Hux consoled himself, a thorough dousing in salt water might have sterilised the stinking garments. 

Water. Salt. Shit.

“Ren!” Hux called to his accidental companion. “Can you swim out and get the water recycler and a couple of power units?”  
Ren shook his head. “Not worth it. The salt water will have started corroding the accessible power cells already. They’re designed to survive vacuum but this is the opposite pressure gradient.”  
“Damn,” Hux sighed, irritated that Ren now thought he didn’t know how power cells were designed and how pressure varied with depth of water. He added, “I expect the salt water will have contaminated the filter mechanism too. You go find a freshwater stream. I’ll…” Hux looked around. “I will make a full inventory of all our current resources and begin planning our escape.”  
“Of course you will.” Ren sneered. “With the Force—“  
“Can your Force conjure up a working comm-link? Or guarantee rescue within one standard day? Can you use the Force to salvage the shuttle and repair it?”  
Ren huffed. “The Force doesn’t work like that.”  
“Then the Force,” Hux declared, “is of very little use in our current circumstances.”

Ren trudged off and Hux watched him go, feeling smug that at least he seemed to have accepted that Hux was in charge. Ren turned and yelled back, _”Hey space-boy, better inventory up some sunscreen!”_

Hux flicked a glance out at the bright sparkles on the surface of the lagoon as the briefest of breezes rippled the blue surface, down at the almost too hot to stand on pale sand, and up at the yellow-white sun climbing in the sky. He cursed: partly because they had landed just after dawn so the sand was only going to get hotter and the sunlight stronger and his skin would burn in minutes, but mostly because Ren was right about something. Hux felt his clothing. It was not dry enough to avoid chafing. In the meantime, he ought to find some other way of shading his skin.

Typical that Ren would return with his hide already darkening into a protective tan after only a couple of hours. He burst into braying laughter at the sight of Hux.  
“Well?” snapped Hux. “Did you find fresh water?”  
“What? Yes, yes. There’s a stream literally just one click around the bay. Ten minutes from here.” Ren bit his lip and looked away. Hux knew it was to stifle his mirth.  
“So what took you so long to get back here?” Hux pulled himself as tall and straight as he could. Ren merely snorted and looked away again.  
“I meditated for a while.”  
“You… you FELL ASLEEP!” Hux pointed an accusing finger at Ren. “All this time I was planning our SURVIVAL and you took a NAP! In the SUN!”  
“General! I resent your accusation!” Ren laughed again. “While you were rolling in mud I was meditating in the shade. Come on, I started building a shelter.”

Ren gathered his clothes and the emergency pack he’d recovered from the sunken shuttle then set off along the sand just where it solidified, wavelets barely foaming over his toes. Hux cursed under his breath and muttered about his misfortunes, but he did gather his clothes carefully and pick up his boots then followed Ren. 

Watching the rounded outlines of Ren’s footprints wash away in front of him, Hux found himself musing that, under different circumstances, walking along an empty beach with Kylo Ren striding ahead (apparently oblivious to nudity) might be quite… not _un_ pleasant. Hux smirked to himself. Kylo Ren, he decided, would probably feel more at home in one of those tawdry tourist traps with rickety bars fifty to the click and exclusive hotels with roped-off stretches of perfectly smooth, raked sand. He imagined himself for a few seconds, sipping something cool at an exclusive beachfront establishment and watching Kylo Ren play volleyball naked on the beach. Ren coughed and Hux banished the ridiculous image.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/139039409@N06/25840448977/in/dateposted-ff/)

Instead, Hux watched the soft sand shift under his feet and the clear water lap at his toes as he walked, lost in a daydream where he singlehandedly saved Ren’s ass and got them off this planet. When he looked up and Ren was not in front, Hux’s breath stopped and his head whipped around until Ren came back into sight, striding away from the shore.

It transpired, to Hux’s vocal disappointment, that Ren’s skill in constructing shelters went only as far as kicking the dried and crackling leaf litter away from a small area under a tree and piling up a few sticks.  
“I thought you’d started a shelter,” said Hux, looking around when Ren stopped after heading up the beach, following rivulets that carved impermanent channels in the sand and merged with their siblings to form a brook then a stream that carried ribbons of fresh water from the forest above to the lagoon below. Hux glared where Ren pointed and muttered, “Did you miss basic survival training?” 

Ren tried to glare back but one look down then up Hux’s mud-smeared body made him snigger and shake his head.  
“I had better things to do that day. Besides. I don’t need survival training.”  
“Oh?” Hux snapped, “Do you not have basic needs like the rest of us mortals?”  
“It’s not that I don’t have...” Ren looked away. _“…needs._ I have you and you have training. So tell me what you want and I’ll co-operate as long as it’s not too stupid.”  
Hux almost choked. 

With Hux firing out instructions that Ren actually followed, soon they had a passable shelter built from pliable branches woven with thick greenery. Hux washed off the mud that had kept sunlight from his skin, waited for the warmth of the air to dry him and dressed in his standard issue leggings and long sleeved undershirt, designed more for conserving body-heat on a cold star destroyer than keeping cool. Now he could turn his attention to the next problem.

“We need to get off this island.”  
“What?” Ren looked at the idyllic surroundings marred only by Hux’s scowl. “Why?”  
“The mainland is inhabited. From what I remember of our rapid descent, it should be east of here. There should be some kind of rudimentary comms system operating. We need to figure out some method of determining local coordinates, travel east to the main continent, find a comm-link or equivalent technology and send the emergency extraction code.”  
Ren raised his eyebrows.  
“And you intend to swim?”  
“Of course not!” snapped Hux. “I intend to construct an oceangoing vessel of some kind.”  
“General,” Ren sighed. “If we wait right here we’ll be found. If we move without a tracker we will be difficult to locate.”  
“No.” Hux shook his head. “We can’t wait around. Rescue might take days. We were not expected back immediately so no one will be looking for us yet. Look for long, straight branches about as thick as my wrist and I will find a way of making rope, unless you feel like another dive down to the shuttle for useful materials?”  
Ren shrugged. “We should sit tight, general. Something… Umm, the Force tells me this is not the end for either of us.”  
“Oh really?” Hux sharpened his well-practised glare. “Maybe the Force needs us to actually try to survive and save ourselves like I have been trained, rather than sit around and wait for rescue!” Hux racked his glare up another notch. “Unless you know something I don’t.”

Ren sighed and got up from where he had lain down in the shade to recover from the exertion of weaving branches together and not force-choking his companion to make him shut up.  
“Fine. Whatever you need.”  
Ren broke the vacuum seal of the emergency pack and listened to the hiss as air rushed in. He opened it and pulled out two ration bars. He handed one to Hux.  
“Leave that. Eat this.”  
Hux looked up from his hands, where he was attempting to braid vines together into rope. On seeing food, even just an insipid protein bar, he realised he was ravenous.

Ren stated his intent to salvage whatever he could from the shuttle. Hux agreed with a curt nod and watched Ren stride away, feeling a ridiculous temptation to trot after him and brush away the leaves and twigs that still clung to the skin of his backside and shoulders.  
“Put pants on!” Hux called after Ren. “Have a sense of decency!”  
“Why?” Ren turned and gave Hux a grin. “There’s only you and me here and you didn’t mind the view before. You were wrong by the way.”  
“What?” Hux felt his face redden without the unwelcome effects of ultraviolet radiation.  
“I’d hate that too loud, too bright place you were imagining earlier. I like it here. It’s…” Ren pointed to his head. “…quiet.”

Hux chose not to think about Ren picking up on his mindless post-crashlanding musings. If Ren mentioned it again, he would explain it away as a reaction to their stressful situation. He let the oaf go and took out the utility blade he knew would be in the emergency pack: it should be just powerful enough to lop a few slender branches and strip them of leaves. He fully intended to have a complete raft frame ready for Ren to admire when he returned from the shuttle.

It was a strenuous task for a man used to minimal physical training in an economically-heated star destroyer. Hux felt the muscles of his arms and shoulders burn with the effort of preparing lopped branches and felled saplings. His fingers trembled as he stripped and twisted lengths of pliant vine into an approximation of rope. He quit after three hours or so, by his estimation. The sun had passed its highest point and the afternoon heat was tempered by a pleasant breeze from out over the lagoon, bringing the scent of salt and seaweed. Hux was hungry again. He finished the protein bar and checked that there were six more in the emergency pack. It was designed to last a crew of two troopers for two days, long enough for rescue, if rescue was coming. 

But only Phasma and the Supreme Leader had known of this covert mission. Phasma had kitted out the shuttle and Leader Snoke had impressed upon him the importance of its success, the necessity of sending his loyal general. Hux had to have a plan in place. He could not allow Ren’s indolence to sabotage the mission out of ignorance of the true nature of their orders. Fumbling the slippery vines for the third time, Hux tied off his effort at making rope, shook out his hands and followed the stream to the shore then turned to follow the line where pale beige became dark, wet sand. 

He needed a walk. Clear his head. He wasn’t checking on Ren at all.

There was little salvage on the beach. Hux stopped and shaded his eyes with his hand, screwing up his face to look out across the bluegreen surface with slitted eyes. There! a dark head appeared then disappeared with a flash of pale as Ren dived for the shuttle. He appeared again with something in his hands, turned, and made a lazy backstroke into the shallows. He stood waist deep and waded ashore.

“I came to help carry things back to camp,” Hux said before Ren could accuse him of anything. Ren just nodded, not even a hint of thanks. Ren dropped the bowls he had retrieved from the shuttle’s galley. Hux sighed.  
“I see I needn’t have bothered. There’s not much of use here.”  
“Well what do you want?” snapped Ren, scowling. “I’m afraid your shuttle did not come equipped with a fucking life-raft!”  
Hux sighed again and turned away, toeing through the pile. He turned back and offered the smallest hint of a smile.  
“If you can hold your breath long enough to search the bunk, I had a bottle of the best Corellian in my bag. Dated 3BBY. It was going to be a gift but—“  
Hux laughed. Ren was already halfway to the wreck.

Hux watched as Ren dived. He counted _one-starkillerbase two-starkillerbase three-_ until Ren surfaced at a count of one-eight-four. Ren dived again and again, and Hux counted every time, laughing when Ren surfaced early, searching the sparkling ripples when he was late. On the seventh attempt, Hux reached _two-nine-eight-starkillerbase_ and Ren had not reappeared. He took a short run, splashing into the shallows with his heart pounding and head ringing, count forgotten, cursing his inability to swim more than a few strokes before his too-tense body sank and he spluttered salt water from a burning nose and throat. Coughing and retching, Hux found himself sitting red-eyed and frightened in the shallows while Ren gave a jubilant bellow further out.

He hoped Ren had not witnessed what he had just done. Tried to do.

As he waded ashore, Ren brandished the bottle and grinned. “Took a few goes to work the door manual release but here it is. Seal’s intact.”  
Hux stood and took the bottle from Ren. “Did you see anything else worth saving?” Hux watched Ren suck his lip and shake his head. “Thought not. Bring the medikit. I can use the bandages as cord.”

Back at their camp, Hux wished he had followed Ren’s example and gone nude. He winced as he removed his sopping wet leggings and vest to reveal a raw-red ring around his waist and two matching arcs at his armpits where seams had rubbed. Ren rescued a bacta patch from the medikit. Hux frowned.  
“We should save that. What if one of us needs it?”  
Ren frowned back and pointed at Hux’s grazed and weeping skin.  
“You need it. Anyway the seal is damaged so it will be no use for anything by tomorrow.” He gestured. “Come here.”

Hux obeyed. He stood exactly where Ren pointed but he wasn’t sure why. Ren opened the bacta patch and cut into it, squeezing out the bacta gel it contained. With the gentle touch of one finger, he swiped a trail around Hux’s waist and along the red arcs that cut upwards across both armpits. Hux felt relief almost immediately and stepped away quickly. If Ren noticed the secondary effect that such caring touches had on Hux, he was polite enough to keep this observation to himself.

 

For the rest of the afternoon, with only a short break for half a protein bar, Hux worked on his raft while Ren walked away without a word. By the time Ren returned it was almost sunset and he had constructed a rudimentary craft that would float and only needed a keel and a sail to be able to cover distance. Ren appeared unimpressed.  
“That thing will never float,” predicted Ren, pushing at one of the joins with his foot and finding it surprisingly stable.  
“Of course it will,” replied Hux. “I’ve done this before in training.”  
“Yes, but as a cadet and in a pond, not out on the ocean!” said Ren, waving an arm in the direction of the lagoon. “It’s sheltered. You’d sink in seconds in the ocean swell.”  
_”We’d_ sink,” Hux corrected Ren, then he corrected himself: “I mean, we would NOT sink.”

Something lit Ren’s face and he issued a challenge. “Prove it. Right now. Let’s see if it even floats in with us both on it.”  
Hux’s refusal was on the tip of his tongue, but the words that emerged were: “Very well, I should test it for buoyancy and make notes on anything that needs to be altered before finishing the build tomorrow. Help me get it down to the water.”

To Ren’s surprise, it did, in fact, float. To Hux’s shock, not for long. Somewhere out towards the reef that sheltered the lagoon from the open ocean currents, the makeshift craft flipped over and tipped both passengers into the sea. Hux let out a yell that turned into a gurgle as his head slipped under the water, and his arms and legs thrashed seemingly of their own accord as panic clenched at his heart. He held his breath, refusing to give in voluntarily to the burn in his chest and inhale water. His head broke the surface and he coughed, sucked in air and gulped water again, and the sea closed in front of his eyes. His head spun, his ears roared, and he would have screamed and wept in terror if only he was able.

And then, as his fear dissolved into blankness, his head was above the water and a voice replaced the rushing in his ears.  
“I’ve got you, Hux, I’ve always got you. I’ve got you, I’ve got you. Hux! Relax! Don’t fight me or I’ll have to—”  
Was this to be the end? Drowned in front of Kylo Kriffing Ren? Hux spluttered up a laugh. At least, he thought as consciousness faded, he’d gone down with his ship.

Hux came to, lying on his side with his face tilted down on the firm damp sand. The first thing he knew he should do was open his eyes and assess his position. The first thing he did do was roll slightly up and forwards, and vomit seawater onto the sand. He groaned. His stomach ached, his chest burned and his throat felt like he’d swallowed Ren’s lightsaber.

A hand on his shoulder made him sit up, conquering his spinning head with difficulty.  
“Drink this. Here.” Hux took the flask and swivelled his eyes to see Kylo Ren. “Fresh water.”  
“I think I have had quite enough water thank you very much.”  
Shocked by the weak croak that came out instead of his voice, Hux sipped until the flask was empty then retched again.  
“Do you think you can walk? I can carry you if not.”

“I can walk.”  
He couldn’t. Hux pushed up onto unsteady feet and attempted to move. Ren caught and supported him for the short distance over shifting sand then grains firmed by the roots of tough plants, up the side of the stream to their shelter, then set him down to recover with more fresh water and a chunk of ration bar as the sun set out of sight behind the forest, making the sky glow above them in modest shades of pink and orange. Hux stared miserably at the cube of compressed synthsust powder then frowned at Ren.

“We don’t need a campfire.”  
Ren looked up from his task of making a pyramid of dry leaves and twigs in the space he had cleared. He lit it with the gas lighter from the emergency pack, cupped his hands around it and blew gently until the twigs caught, then fed it finger-sized broken twigs. Soon the fire crackled and warmed the cooling air.

While Ren worked, Hux let his mind wander. He’d almost drowned three times since sunrise. Once when the shuttle sank in the lagoon. Once when he ran into too-deep water in some stupid, automatic, fear-driven response when Ren hadn’t surfaced after too long of a dive. And once when the tiniest swell transmitted into the lagoon from the open ocean beyond the reef tipped them both off his keel-less raft. He wondered how tempted Ren had been to let him drown.

Ren handed him something. A plastoid bowl.  
“The ration bars are easier to eat if you soak them.”  
Hux glanced up to see concern that somehow felt worse to him than derision.  
“You made porridge?”  
“Yes. Eat it.”  
“It looks disgusting.”  
Ren gave a short laugh. “Hux, it’s half a ration bar soaked in boiled water. Of course it looks disgusting. It is disgusting. Now eat it.” Hux stirred it with his finger, wondering if he was hungry enough. He tipped the bowl up and drank some of the gelatinous meal. A minute later he was sucking the last drops from the finger he had used to clean the bowl. 

Ren took the bowl from his hands. He wore a slight frown, lower lip sucked between his teeth and brows down. He was looking away from Hux, towards the campfire.  
“I wouldn’t have let you drown. I got you out of the shuttle. I pushed you back to the shallows when you panicked during my dive. I… You know. ”  
“Doesn’t matter,” Hux said after a minute of staring at the dancing flames. “I failed my mission so Leader Snoke will probably have me replaced. Demotion is as big a humiliation as drowning.”  
Ren fed the fire then fetched Hux’s greatcoat and draped it across Hux’s shoulders. He was glad of the warmth and, if he could bear to be honest, the brief tender gesture. 

Ren sat nearby with his robe loose on his shoulders. He opened the expensive bottle of brandy, took a swig, coughed once and handed it to Hux. Hux took a drink and set the bottle down between them.  
“What do you mean, you failed your mission?” Ren drank again, so carefully that Hux wondered with a smirk if he had ever tasted Corellian brandy before.  
“I may as well tell you,” Hux said, watching the fire again. “Leader Snoke commanded me to deliver you to him safely and in person. Whatever you were told about our mission was a cover story.”

Ren was silent as they passed the bottle between them twice more.  
“Did he say why?” Ren watched Hux shake his head. “My orders were… similar.”  
“What do you mean?” Hux frowned at Ren.  
“I mean,” Ren elaborated, “that I was ordered to deliver you to Snoke safely and in person. For training of some kind. I thought Snoke might want you to have more awareness of the Force. He said you were not to know in advance or you would refuse.” 

Hux snorted and took another drink.  
“He’s right! What use do I have for the Force?”  
Ren scowled and turned to blast Hux with a scathing reply but Hux raised the bottle and grinned at him.  
“I mean, I have you and you have the Force.”

Ren laughed. Hux passed him the bottle but he waved it away. Hux drank once more then sealed it and set it aside.  
“Tomorrow we have much to do. One: secure a food supply before we run out of ration bars. Two: rebuild the raft only with a keel and a sail. Three: figure out just what in the name of all the Sith our Supreme Leader is up to.”  
”Four,” supplied Ren, “find out why the shuttle went down the way it did. You had Phasma oversee preparations?”  
“Yes, Leader Snoke told me to…”  
Hux sat upright, letting the greatcoat fall from his shoulders.  
“Fuck. Is he trying to get rid of us both? Is Phasma no longer to be trusted?”

Ren shook his head and Hux watched how his hair fell around his face and threw shadows on his skin, lit amber by the fire.  
“I would have known. Phasma is easy to read. Open. All the stormtroopers are, whether they have been conditioned by circumstance like Phasma or by your programme. Whatever she did was out of loyalty to the First Order and without duplicitous intent. Besides, if Snoke wanted you dead, you would die in your bed or drop in front of your command crew with your heart stopped.”

Hux sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. Ren watched.  
“I can’t think about it now, Ren. I need to sleep.”  
Ren yawned in sympathy and laid his robe out in their shelter, really not much more than a wind-break. Hux tried to curl up where he was, wrapped in his greatcoat, but Ren called him over.  
“Sleep here. It will get colder and the fire will die out.”  
“Together?” Hux frowned.  
“You needn’t concern yourself with impropriety or gossip regarding me sleeping with you.” Ren yawned again. “I promise I have no intention of telling anyone about the night I stooped low enough to share your body heat.”

The insult was enough to persuade Hux that Ren deserved to be his foot-warmer for the night. He joined Ren in the shelter, lay down beside him on his robe and covered them both as best he could with his greatcoat. They lay side by side, pretending to sleep through the racket of chirrups, howls and screeches made by nocturnal wildlife. Hux focused on the behaviour of the shuttle before the splashdown, as best he could remember, while he waited for Ren to fall asleep. Only when he felt Ren relax did he set his mind adrift. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept beside another person. He’d had bunkmates from time to time but since becoming the youngest general in the First Order the pool of acceptable partners had dried up. Hux lay silent on the verge of tears that he wrote off to an emotional state brought on by three near death experiences all within one day. It wasn’t even the sex he missed; he could manage adequately on his own there. It was heartbreakingly comforting just to have someone willing to be this close.

Ren turned and draped a heavy arm across Hux’s chest. Hux froze but nothing else happened. Ren’s steady breathing urged him to calm: the oaf was asleep. Hux admitted to himself that he’d been right about sharing their nest. It was cool enough two hours after sunset to be uncomfortable and Hux turned his back on Ren, fitting into the curve the larger man made. He smiled, exhaustion perhaps taking over his thoughts because he almost sniggered at a lingering image of himself slowly grinding backwards against Ren. Instead he murmured, _”Thank you for saving me from drowning.”_  
Barely louder than his breathing, Ren replied, _”Three times,”_ and planted three light kisses on the back of Hux’s neck. 

Hux froze again. Had he just imagined…? He considered turning and quizzing Ren but the man’s breathing slowed. How absolutely ridiculous. There could be no way that Ren had meant to kiss him, if that was even what happened. It was, had to be, a combination of an emotional day and too much expensive brandy.

Behind Hux, Ren smiled and kissed the back of Hux’s shoulder.  
“Ren?” Hux kept his voice down out of habit.  
“Mmm?”  
He couldn’t ask: couldn’t actually turn and say the ludicrous words _did you just kiss me?_ Partly because it would be such an embarrassingly stupid thing to say, and partly in case the answer might prompt a derisive snort and a push away. 

Ren tightened the arm that wrapped around Hux, hand finding Hux’s shoulder and holding him closer. Ren’s voice, slurred with sleep, sounded soft in Hux’s ear.  
“Turn around. If you want.”  
Hux shuffled until he faced Ren. Ren laced his fingers into Hux’s hair and delivered the briefest touch of their lips, then let his hand slip down to rest on Hux’s hip. Hux rolled forward and returned the kiss, every bit as tentative as Ren had been.  
“We probably shouldn’t,” Hux murmured, as much to give Ren a reason to back off as to remind himself that their relationship ought to be strictly professional.  
“It’s a terrible idea,” Ren replied, then kissed Hux harder, rolled him onto his back and landed half on top of him. He smiled and spoke a little louder, “But just for tonight… hmm? Tell me if you don’t want this as much as I do.”

Hux wanted the way Ren looked at him in the light from the dying embers as if he was the only thing in Ren’s universe. He wanted the soft caress of Ren’s fingers on his face and the quick, light kisses that felt fluttery over his neck and chest. He yearned for Ren’s warm hands to stroke wide, slow waves over his stomach and down, fingers trailing up from his thighs over his hardening cock and back to brush his hair from his face. Ren leaned down and kissed him, eyes closed and lips parted, without any of the urgency or fumbling Hux associated with past experiences. Hux felt Ren shift and followed him, raising his head for another kiss, but Ren placed a hand flat in the centre of Hux’s chest. Hux lay back with a sigh that turned into a giggled moan when he felt Ren’s hot mouth around the head of his cock. 

“Fuck, Ren!” Hux bit his lip and moaned again, covering his mouth with his hand. Ren sucked gently, circling his tongue around then letting go.  
“You think the wildlife cares if you make a sound?” Ren laughed and tongued around Hux’s balls, dragging teeth gently over the loose skin while Hux stifled his groans. Ren rested his cheek on Hux’s thigh and reached his arm out to pull Hux’s hand away from his mouth. “You think they’re all fucking quietly in case the creatures in the next tree hear? It’s just us, general. Nobody cares.”  
“It’s not that,” Hux said as he sat up and stroked Ren’s thick hair, sticky with salt. “I’d like something else to shut me up while you do that.” He grinned. “Got any ideas?”

Ren grinned back. He swivelled and lay flat then patted his chest. “Get on top.”  
“We could lie side by side,” suggested Hux.  
“I promise this will be better. You can relax.” Ren looked at Hux, still hesitant. “What are you worried about?”  
Hux hugged his knees. “What if I… what if— Oh!”

Hux felt as if he was made of no substance. Without his direction, his body moved and remained face down suspended in the air just far enough above their makeshift bed for Ren to scoot underneath. Warmth enveloped the head of his cock again and this time Hux felt Ren’s lips slide down to the base. Ren’s tongue slipped along the entire length of it as Ren moved back and forward a couple of times. Hux felt weight return to his frame and he settled on top of Ren. He’d have something to say about Ren’s use of the Force later, but for now Hux had other things to do with his mouth.

Neither of them lasted long. Ren kept his hands on Hux’s ass, stroking and pressing him close while he worked his tongue and lips on Hux’s cock. Hux moaned around the head of Ren’s cock while tracing his fingertips under Ren’s balls and exploring the thick seam that ran back to Ren’s entrance. To Hux’s surprise, Ren came first and with little warning, the tightening of his balls and twitch of his cock were followed rapidly by his climax, during which Ren held tight around Hux’s hips and hummed around his cock, the vibration from the sound deep in Ren’s throat almost enough to finish Hux there. Hux made a face Ren wouldn’t see and spat. Ren tipped him off onto his back and for a second Hux thought he was going to have to finish by himself, but Ren sank between his legs and took his cock back into his mouth, bobbing his head and fondling Hux’s balls. When the tingle in his groin grew to unstoppable white-hot tendrils in his brain, Hux choked out a warning and Ren moved his head. Hux came hard, spattering himself from belly to shoulder.

Ren laughed. “Been a while for you too, has it?”  
Hux just lay there and grinned while Ren grabbed the undershirt, still damp from his third near drowning, and wiped him clean before tossing it away.  
Without speaking, they huddled up again on Ren’s robe with Hux’s greatcoat for a blanket and slipped into dreams.

 

Morning woke Hux with gentle light from a shy sun peeking across the lagoon from over the horizon. Ren was gone and Hux felt loss which he smothered by pulling up his greatcoat. He tried to roll over but everything ached. He gave up and rose with a groan. 

Ren was feeding their fire and Hux sniffed the air.  
“Caf? Ren, did you make _caf?”_  
Ren grinned. “It’s not as strong as you’re used to but yes, for some reason the emergency pack contained a couple of single serve packs. Here.”  
He held out the synthsust bowl from the night before only now it contained steaming brown caf. Hux sipped then gulped.  
“You know,” Hux said, “this makes me more suspicious of this _mission_ than anything else so far. Emergency survival packs do not, as a rule, contain caf. It is not considered necessary for survival.”  
“Except,” Ren added, “by someone who knows the extent of your addiction.”

Hux drained the bowl. “So this mission is looking more and more like a set up?”  
Ren nodded.  
“Why?”  
Ren shrugged.  
“So,” Hux tried not to sound too hopeful, “there is probably no point in trying to get off this island. There’s no extraction team waiting for a comm signal and therefore I have no urgent need to get back into the water.”  
“None at all,” confirmed Ren, “unless you want me to teach you to swim.”  
Hux shuddered at the thought and Ren set about making synthsust porridge for breakfast.

They ate noisily, slurping from bowls and scraping up the sticky residue with fingers that were sucked clean. Ren pointed out, to Hux’s amused disgust, that from the sounds that had screamed out after sunset the forest clearly contained plenty of food, they just had to catch it and kill it first. After cleaning up in the stream, Hux stretched muscles unused to physical activity then sat in the shade to watch Ren perform some kind of exercise on the beach. Ren was stretching and flexing, holding poses that made Hux wonder if he was just showing off, manipulating sand grains into frantic, swirling shapes and dropping them again.

A thought hit Hux and he yelled at Ren.  
“Hey, Force-user!” Ren sent the dry sand into a wave that whooshed down to meet the water, then turned. Hux pointed at the lagoon. “What’s the difference between shifting a few million sand grains and lifting one thing much bigger?”  
Ren walked up the beach towards Hux. “What do you mean?” he asked with a frown.  
“Well? Tell me.” Hux made it sound like a challenge. “What’s the biggest object you can move with this Force of yours?”  
Ren shrugged and grinned. “I don’t know. Apparently _size doesn’t matter_ but a large one can still be intimidating.” He laughed at Hux’s scowl. “What did you have in mind?”

Hux hesitated. It sounded so obvious in his head that he was worried Ren might think him an idiot for suggesting it. Surely it would have been the first thing Ren tried after getting them both out safely. He thought of Ren’s strange abilities and his nature, then grinned.  
“I bet you couldn’t lift the shuttle.”

Ren ‘s face twisted and he walked off down the beach. He paused with the water of the lagoon up to his waist and turned.  
“You think I didn’t try that? I couldn’t. I didn’t have… I’m not—”  
Ren waded out further.  
“Not powerful enough? Don’t be an ass, Ren. You can stop a blaster bolt! I’ve seen you practising! How much power do you need?” Hux let the water lap over his toes but went no further. “So you tried yesterday and it didn’t work. Try again!”  
“There’s no point.” Ren turned back to stare at the horizon. “You wouldn’t understand.”  
“Understand what, Ren, the Force? No, I will never understand that. I don’t understand you giving up after one attempt either.” Hux took a step forward, letting the water reach above his ankles. “You’re too used to things going your way first time. I bet you never really tried at anything. Doesn’t work for you right away? Must not be possible then.” A wavelet washed up to Hux’s calves. He clenched his fists and took two more steps forward to knee depth. “What a fucking arrogant creature you are!”

There was no reaction from Ren. Hux waded out as far as he dared, to where the water lapped at his waist and threatened to unbalance him should a wave ripple the glittering surface. Fury shook his voice.  
“Oh the great Kylo Ren, master of the Force, believes a thing impossible just because he did not succeed first time! Is that the nerf-crap Snoke feeds you? Maybe you need military training to—”

Ren turned and gestured. Hux lost his footing. He fell backwards and yelled on the way down, the sound turning to a gurgle as water filled his mouth. Ren hauled him up by the arm and dumped him a few steps away where it was shallow enough that he could sit and retch with his head and shoulders well above the water. By the time Hux had recovered his senses, Ren was striding away along the beach. Hux walked up the freshwater stream, sat in the cool current and wept.

 

The sun was high and Hux was unwilling to venture out from the shade of the canopy where their shelter nestled at the edge of the forest. He looked out across the tough, scrubby grasses then the smooth sand to the lagoon. He’d given his rebellious stomach half a ration bar, tidied up, washed all his clothes and Ren’s in fresh water to avoid chafing from salt crystals, shuddered at the state of his precious gaberwool greatcoat which would never be wearable again, and collected firewood for later. With no further chores to occupy him, he put on his undershirt and leggings as soon as they were dry and made his way slowly along the edge of the forest where he was shaded from the sun but could glimpse the lagoon. Hux heard Ren before he saw him, and picked his way around tussocks of spiky grey-green plants and sat close to where Ren stood on the sand with feet planted wide.

Ren ignored him and raised both arms out towards the lagoon, palms up. Eyes screwed shut, sweat beading on his skin and rolling down his back, Ren trembled. Hux watched in alarm as Ren raised his head and yelled. He was on the point of rising to move closer, run up and pull Ren out of his meditation exercise, when the surface of the lagoon bulged and broke and the unmistakeable outline of the shuttle emerged, pouring water from the forced-open door.

The hulking shape came closer in jerks and creaks then sank again with a roaring, sucking sound, and Ren collapsed onto his ass. Hux stood but could move no closer, as if kept distant by some invisible barrier. Ren got up, screamed abuse at the water and the shuttle that lay just beneath the surface now, and repeated his actions. Again Ren gritted his teeth, tensed his muscles and trembled with enormous effort. Again the shuttle rose, jerked a little closer and sank. Again Ren fell, rested and got up.

Another half dozen efforts from Ren and the shuttle sat in water shallow enough not to trouble its operation. Hux ran forwards unimpeded and held onto Ren, held Ren up and heaped praise on him using words in odd combinations he had never once heard applied to himself from anyone else. He let them both down to the sand and cradled Ren’s head in his lap. Ren opened his eyes and smirked at Hux. He spoke only once before succumbing to exhaustion: _Proved you wrong!_

Hux could not lift and carry Ren. The best he could manage was to drag him from the baking sand down to the cool, damp shade of the shuttle. Hux opened every access hatch, every door and every vent on the vessel, sometimes ecstatic that seals designed to keep coolant in had also kept water out, other times sighing in disappointment when an opened hatch allowed water to cascade and splash onto the puddled durasteel floor. 

While Ren slept, Hux checked as many of the shuttle’s systems as he dared. Anything showing signs of damp he left alone in case the ingress of salt water caused a short that, on power up, blew components that might work when dry. Both the shuttle’s computer system and main engine bay, usually pressurised with coolant, were intact. Hux hummed in satisfaction that in a couple of days the shuttle would at least be capable of lifting off, then his hum slid to reflect the question that entered his head. 

If the engine was undamaged, why had it failed? Why has they been caught in the gravity of this _particular_ planet and why had he been able to control their descent to land in such a _non-fatal_ manner when his memory was of unresponsive manual controls and automatic, failsafe systems with displays that sparked then blanked? It took only half an hour of coaxing information from the shuttle’s main flight log to get a partial answer.

Hux pushed Ren with his toes. Ren groaned and clutched his head.  
“Hey, wake up.”  
Ren struggled to sit. Hux knelt behind Ren to help prop him up, Ren’s back too hot against his chest.  
“You awake?”  
Ren nodded.  
“Good. We were sabotaged. Someone knows where we are because someone programmed the nav system to bring us into a controlled emergency landing. I suspect it was triggered by a certain set of coordinates. Ren, are you _sure_ about Phasma’s loyalty?”  
Ren rubbed his face with both hands and gazed blearily at the shuttle.  
“Yes. I told you. Phasma is loyal to the First Order.”  
“I remember,” said Hux with a sigh. He patted Ren’s cheek just softly enough not to be a slap. “Hey, stay awake while I’m speaking to you!” Ren dragged his head round to glower at Hux. Hux frowned back. “Phasma’s loyalty to the First Order is not in doubt, but is she loyal to _us?”_

All Ren offered in response was a blank stare. Hux sighed and looked at the shuttle again. Seawater still dripped and drained from the air scrubbers, and the water recycler would need a complete service. There was nothing he could do before the peripheral systems dried out and that would take time. Ideally he would have liked the shuttle to be a little higher up the beach but he would not ask Ren to try again. Hux offered Ren an arm. “Can you walk? I can’t carry you.”  
Ren groaned and struggled to his feet. Hux caught him and fitted himself under Ren’s shoulder to help him walk. Slowly, with many stops for Ren to recover the remnants of his energy, they made it back to their camp. Hux shook out Ren’s robe and laid it flat, bundled his greatcoat to make a pillow and watched Ren fall asleep in relative comfort. 

Despite their circumstances: Ren incapacitated, the suspicion of a traitor in the ranks and an inadequate food supply, Hux felt calmer than he had for a long time. He checked on Ren from time to time as the sun slipped lower towards the treetops and he set about building their campfire. By the time he had the fire going and water boiled ready to reconstitute a block of synthsust, Ren was stirring. Hux handed him a bowl of warm porridge and sat beside him while he ate.

Hux cleared his throat.  
“That was an impressive display. Earlier. ”  
Ren glanced at Hux’s profile and back at his meal.  
“You made me angry. I needed that anger.” He squeaked the back of his forefinger around the bowl and sucked it clean. “With stronger emotions, I grow stronger.”  
“Well,” Hux said, looking for a way to broach what was, for him, a delicate subject. “At least you didn’t drown me for making you angry. That would have had a certain irony.”  
Ren rolled his eyes and set the bowl aside. “Stars forbid you die of irony.”  
“I only wish I’d thought of pissing you off sooner.” Hux snapped. “Could’ve saved myself from at least one near death experience.”  
“You piss me off more than you know, general.” Ren got up to wash his bowl. Hux’s glare followed him.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean,” Ren called back over his shoulder, “that you are the most difficult person I have ever met!”

Hux rose to face Ren as he returned. “I’m not the one who throws tantrums and loses control! You lost your temper and held me under because you didn’t want to hear what I had to say! YOU need to learn CONTROL!”  
“And YOU need to UNLEARN IT!” Ren yelled. There were a few seconds of silence before Ren lowered his voice and spoke again. “Hux, allow all your emotions. Not just the anger and the fear! Be human. Like you were last night.”  
“You think that’s what makes me human? Oh Ren, clearly that impetuous act was a lapse on my part.” Hux turned away, intending to put distance between himself and Ren before his disappointment tipped him into another bout of tearful frustration. “I won’t trouble you that way again.”

Ren caught up in a few long strides and wrapped his arms around Hux. Hux struggled but did not have the strength to slip out of Ren’s grip.  
“Go on,” Ren goaded. “If I let go will you strike me? You think I deserve it.”  
Hux spat out a curse. Ren released him and he whirled around on his toes to face his tormentor but little memory remained of the physical hand-to-hand training he’d suffered through as a cadet. He raised his fists as if to aim a punch at Ren, then dropped them and stood with his arms by his sides.  
“Civilised people do not behave that way.” Hux turned away. This time Ren let him go.

Hux didn’t go far. He sat on the sand, cooling rapidly now the sun was setting. After a while Ren sank down beside him and handed him the remains of the brandy. Hux waved it away. Ren watched Hux’s face, greying as the light dimmed and colour vision failed.  
“Do you really think to be civilised means losing your emotions?” asked Ren,  
“Just the inconvenient ones,” replied Hux. “The ones that get in the way of progress, or smooth running of the ship.”  
“Oh.” Ren smiled at the growing darkness. “Are my anger and your fear uncivilised? They are motivating for us both. They got the shuttle out of the sea.”  
“Hm. I suppose they did.” Hux clasped his arms around his knees. “My emotions must be controlled. How could I be a successful general if I lost my temper at every setback? Or if I was plagued by feelings like… like—“  
Ren leaned closer and murmured, _”Lust?”_  
Hux snorted. “Indeed. Affection might make me have favourites, or reconsider giving difficult orders. Or—“  
“Envy,” supplied Ren. 

Hux rocked sideways and bumped Ren with his shoulder. “I am not envious of you.”  
“But I sense that you are,” replied Ren.  
“Ugh there you go! You _sense_ while the rest of us have to _think._ It’s… it’s—“  
“—unfair?”  
“Stop it, Ren. Stop finishing my—“  
“—thoughts?”  
“I mean it! Very well. Leader Snoke favours you. He listens to you ramble about the _force_ and what you _feel._ My efforts pale into insignificance beside your _magic.”_  
“You have the new Starkiller!” Ren protested. “Even more powerful than before. I can’t match your vision of mass-produced terror. When you give the Supreme Leader progress reports, I can almost feel his hunger for it. It’s intoxicating.”

They sat for another few minutes as the sky succumbed to ink. Hux stood and Ren followed. Back at their camp the fire had burned down to a few pale embers and Ren threw on his cowl for warmth then set about coaxing it back to life. Soon they shared the last unsatisfying synthsust ration bar and discussed a work plan for getting the shuttle spaceworthy. If everything went according to Hux’s schedule, they might not have to spend another night here. Ren prepared their shelter for the night, lay on his side and made space for Hux.  
“If this is our last night here,” Ren said, “is this your last chance to give in to lust?”  
“I rarely suffer from lust, Ren,” replied Hux, undressing and settling backwards into the curve of Ren’s warm body.  
“I believe you.” Ren kissed Hux’s shoulder. “Can I tempt you with affection instead?”  
Hux huffed a single laugh. “Depends. What does your version of _affection_ involve?”

Ren took that as an invitation. He moved so that Hux rolled onto his back, leaned forwards and kissed him. Hux responded by sinking his fingers into Ren’s hair and pulling him close, kissing with parted lips and a tongue that barely traced over Ren’s lips before pulling away again. Ren smiled.  
“I think you’d rather have my cock in your mouth than my tongue, general.”  
“Well then,” Hux said, pushing Ren’s face away. “Better give me what I want. And no cheating.”  
Ren laughed and let Hux push him over. Hux straddled Ren’s hips, exploring first with his hands, applying smooth strokes over Ren’s chest and stomach. Ren closed his eyes and sighed, catching his breath when Hux’s fingers tweaked at his nipples then giggling when Hux leaned down, bit and sucked. Hux trailed his fingers over skin that turned to gooseflesh at his touch then followed his finger trails with light kisses and sharp nips. He moved back, nudging Ren’s thighs apart with a knee. Ren laughed.  
“Is this what _you_ consider affection, general?”  
Hux grasped the base of Ren’s cock in one hand, stroked the underside of his balls with the other and took a long, slow swirl of his tongue around the head, pulling off with an obscene slurp.  
“No, Ren. This is lust.” Hux laughed and stroked Ren’s cock slowly. “I said I rarely suffer, not that I _never_ suffer. Now shut up and lie still. I want your cock, not your opinions.”

Hux felt Ren tremble beneath his hands as he worked gently and slowly, building Ren close then backing off to moans and curses that became less coherent as the minutes passed. Sometimes he used only his hands to stroke Ren’s shaft and stretched up for a kiss, or only his mouth on the head of Ren’s cock while he massaged finger pads around hard nipples. At one point, when Ren’s balls tightened and his cock twitched, Hux let go completely and leaned forwards to kiss Ren’s curses away and pin his hands by his sides, then murmured _say ‘please Hux finish me’._  
Ren bellowed the words, and a few others. Hux laughed and leaned down again. He clasped Ren’s shaft firmly in one hand and nuzzled at his balls, darting a pointed tongue out to tease at the sensitive skin behind. Ren arched and came with a series of loud, breathy cries that marked the waves of his climax. 

Ren lay still, grinning. Hux cleaned him up with the nearest suitable object, Ren’s cowl, then lay with his head on Ren’s shoulder and his arm across Ren’s chest. Ren murmured a couple of acts that he vowed to perform on Hux just as soon as he’d had a minute’s rest, but he was asleep before he could make good on his promises. 

 

For the second morning in a row, Hux woke to a space and missed warmth. Ren had rekindled the fire, and the carcass of some small, unfortunate forest creature dripped molten fat onto the hot firewood where it hissed and crackled. Hux thought he had never smelled a better meal. He sat up, groaning at stiff muscles and rubbing his face.  
“Good morning. I won’t ask how you caught that.”  
Ren grinned over at Hux. “You’d only accuse me of cheating.”  
“For some reason I find I don’t care.” Hux reached for his leggings and made a face when he realised they were ingrained with sand. He pulled on his uniform trousers instead and accepted a piece of roast meat that tasted strong and felt slippery in his mouth. He washed it down with water and smiled at Ren’s scrutiny.  
“Waiting to find out if it’s poisonous?” Ren laughed and shook his head. “I’m surprised. You are a decent field-cook. Next time catch it the day before and soak it to reduce the saltiness.”  
“You learn that in survival class?” asked Ren as he took a bite and made a face.  
“No.” Hux smiled at a memory. “My mother was the kitchen help. I could only see her when she was at work and she talked me through all the recipes I saw her make.”  
“You’re lucky,” said Ren. “My mother sent me away because she couldn’t handle my behaviour.”

That ended the conversation and they picked the bones clean in silence. Ren cursed at the state of his cowl while Hux laughed and dressed in his tunic, slinging his belt over his shoulder, his boots under his arm, and sentencing his underthings to remain behind. They walked along the water’s edge to the shuttle. Ren dealt with a few minor repairs to door seals and brushing salt crystals gently away from delicate mechanisms, while Hux worked on starting the engines safely and testing the comm system. Ren slid into the pilot’s seat when Hux yelled through that they were ready for a test run and Hux joined him in the cockpit, settling in the copilot position and booting up the nav computer. 

By noon they had an operational shuttle. The first test was a gentle take off and test of the shuttle’s manual flight controls. The second put them in low orbit and Hux programmed a sub-light course away from the planet. He called up the nav computer and plotted a jump to the system where the _Finalizer_ ought to be, looked over at Ren and raised an eyebrow.  
“Ready to find out what the kriff this has all been for?”  
Ren nodded. Hux entered a command and points streaked to lines around them.

The _Finalizer_ was exactly where Hux predicted and Ren silently thanked Hux’s attention to schedules. The comm lit up as soon as they had dropped out of lightspeed and a tinny voice welcomed them back. Ren released the controls to the docking tractors and sat back. Hux and Ren shared a look that conveyed more than words could at that moment, so they did not speak. 

Phasma met them with a salute and a request for them to meet with Leader Snoke immediately. Hux and Ren marched shoulder to shoulder to the holo-conference room. Phasma did not follow. Outside the room, Hux tried to smooth out his tunic and tame his hair: usually so carefully slicked back, today it fell around his eyes in strands made dry and sticky by salt air. Ren laughed and shook out his locks, then checked the folds of his cowl hid the worst of the grime ground into his robe. 

They went in. After a moment the holoprojector activated and Snoke’s twisted face leered at them.  
“I hear your mission was eventful.”  
“Indeed, Supreme Leader,” replied Hux. “We experienced an act of sabotage. The shuttle went down and—“  
“General! I anticipate your report.”  
“But there is a saboteur in our midst! I have narrowed down the traitor to one of only a few people. I wish to carry out a full investigation to—“  
“Let Phasma deal with this _investigation,_ general. Your purpose—“  
“But she is one of the—“  
“General! Be silent.”  
Hux could not speak further. His mouth opened and closed but no sound emerged. Ren stepped forward.  
“Supreme Leader, it is true! We crash landed on a pre-set course. Let me carry out the interrogations. We only returned thanks to the general’s ability to see possibilities where I see failure and encourage me to action.”  
“And!” Hux coughed as his voice was released. “We would not have returned without Ren’s ability to use the Force.”  
Snoke’s skull moved further away, giving the impression that a huge figure had been leaning forward as if to talk to children then sat back.  
“I see. There will be no investigation. Your mission was a success. Send Captain Phasma to me. Dismissed.”

 

Hux had a lot to catch up on but he could do no more without a meal, a sanisteam and a complete new uniform. He took an inspection of the bridge more as a means of comforting himself than keeping his lieutenants on their toes then retreated to his office. His colonels were competent and the rack of datapads was no larger than it ought to be under the circumstances. Hux let out a contented sigh and picked up the first one.

He woke cold and stiff and confused. The voice that had partly roused him spoke again, quietly from the doorway.  
“General. May I be of any assistance? Sir?”  
Hux sat up, rubbed his eyes and frowned at the disturbance to his dreams.  
“Ah. Lieutenant. Is there some matter that requires my attention?”  
“No sir, not exactly. Um. Kylo Ren ordered me to—”  
Hux shut him up with a glare that melted into a yawn. “Go on, lieutenant. I will not hold you accountable for his whims.”  
“Kylo Ren ordered me to tell you to go to bed, sir.”  
Hux contemplated sending the lieutenant back to Ren with the message _The general ordered me to tell you to go fuck yourself_ but Mitaka was a good officer and his loss would be a burden on the bridge crew. Besides, Hux admitted with irritation, Ren was right. He needed the comfort of a whole night in his familiar bunk with the hum of the ship’s electricals to lull him into sleep. Hux stood, stretched and raised one eyebrow at the lieutenant. “Kylo Ren is not— If you breathe a word of this to another soul, living or dead, I will personally—“  
“Nossir!” the lieutenant snapped out a salute and fled as soon as Hux waved a dismissal.

Carrying three datapads that he could work on from his quarters, Hux marched to the officers’ accommodation deck, the cool recirculated air of the _Finalizer_ a welcome, scentless chill on his cheeks pink from inevitable sunburn, and he looked forward to removing the stiff new boots that would take weeks to break in. 

Halfway through struggling out of his left boot, Hux noticed the other presence in his quarters. He held up his foot.  
“Are you going to help me or not?”  
Ren stepped through from the passage that led to the other modest rooms of the senior officer’s quarters, almost identical to his own, and eased Hux’s boots up and off. Hux sat back on his couch.  
“What are you doing here, Ren? Don’t you have to meditate or something?”  
Ren shrugged. “I should, but Phasma confessed. She and Snoke set the whole thing up to force us to cooperate with one another.” 

Hux was livid. Ren waited it out while Hux described in eloquent detail exactly what he would like to do with the Supreme Leader and Captain Phasma. Once his temper had calmed from a storm to a breeze, Ren smiled.  
“It feels good, doesn’t it? To let go.”  
Hux pointed at the door. “If you came here just to goad me, you can go.”  
“No.” Ren shook his head. “I came here because I have unfulfilled promises to you, general.”  
Hux frowned. “What are you blathering on about?”  
“Well.” Ren smiled a little nervously. “Last night I promised to open your tight little arse with my tongue and finger you until you begged me to let you ride my cock. I think I also said I would march you to an interrogation chamber, strap you into the chair and suck you off with the sound dampeners active so you could scream out as much filth as you liked. Where would you like to begin, Hux?”

Hux felt his face and neck flush red. Things that had sounded so welcome the night before seemed so wrong here and he frowned.  
“Ren, I don’t think—“  
“Nobody has to know!” Ren sensed Hux on the sharp edge of a decision. “I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of thinking that their ruse worked. But we do work better together, don’t we?”  
Hux chewed his lip and thought of his bunk, familiar and quiet and empty. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be right now. He thought of Ren’s warmth and the way they fitted together. He paused at the door of his bedroom and spoke without looking round.  
“I don’t want anything so physical tonight, Ren but if you want to stay you are welcome. It seems I have become used to sharing body heat. I have one question about today, though.”  
“Oh? Ask.” Ren followed Hux into his bedroom.  
“You were ordered not to carry out interrogations. What will happen when Leader Snoke finds out you disobeyed him?”  
Ren laughed. “Phasma won’t tell. I threatened that if she spoke about it to anyone I would put sand in her underwear.”


End file.
